Wildwing Farm Adventures
by Dragon Claw92
Summary: It's not a glamorous life, running a chocobo farm. But for Maeven Kiribon, every day is an adventure. And the same can be said for the chocobos as well! Every day is a new and exciting event, and one can only wonder what will happen next. - This is a oneshot collection series, I will accept idea requests and chocobo ideas for the farm. Not based in a specific game.
1. Chapter 1: I Broke the Roof!

"Gilda, what are you doing up there?"

"Fixin' the roof."

"Gilda... the roof didn't need to be fixed."

"Sure it did! We broke it this morning!"

"Oh... wait... what?!"

The olive colored chocobo looked down from the roof of the farmhouse and offered the human below a sheepish expression. "Ehm... we broke the roof this morning while you weren't home and now I'm tryin' to fix it? You weren't supposed to be home this early okay?"

The human huffed and shook her head, her hands on her hips and her expression showing irritation with the situation at hand. This flustered young woman was Maeven Kiribon, the owner of the farm and usually the one who kept things under control.

Usually was clearly the keypoint in the situation, especially when she had to make trips to the nearby town in order to get supplies. Normally it would have been her farm partner - a red mage by the name of Kennedy Blayke - who went on the town trips due to his generally more social nature, but as luck would have it he had to be away on a visit with his relatives for their annual family reunion. This left Maeven with everything. Everything. And now it was 11 o'clock in the morning, and the resident flier was on the roof trying to cover up for only who knew what. "Do I even WANT to know what you did, Gilda?"

"Um..." The pause was about as awkward as the chocobo on the roof seemed to be. "... No? But I can safely say it wasn't me who did it! I definitely did not put the hole in the roof! Nuh-uh!"

Maeven frowned and crossed her arms, a foot lightly tapping on the ground as she gave the supposed-to-be-oldest chocobo of the farm a rather bored and unimpressed stare. "That really doesn't help you argue your case you know." She shook her head and sighed as she turned to head for the nearby shed. "Get down from there; I'll fix the roof." That, however, was when Maeven noticed something was missing. Something she rather needed in order to actually get onto the roof in the first place.

"Where the heck is the ladder?"

Gilda cringed a little and tried to flatten herself - to little effect - on the roof. "Uh... I-I think Chipper had it, boss."

"Chipper." Maeven repeated, turning to give the green bird a rather questioning look. "Why in the world would Chipper have the ladder?"

"To make a tent!"

Because that was obvious, apparently.

Maeven groaned and rubbed her face. "For the love of... okay... where'd he take the ladder, Gilda?"

"Out to the field. Dunno what he's up to but I doubt he'll break it. I mean come on, it's Chipper; what's the worst thing he's ever done?"

Now that was an interesting question, and Maeven could already think of several options. It was bad enough that the chocobos on her farm naturally seemed inclined to strange and unusual quirks, but every now and then there were the extra special cases where a person just had to shake their head and deal with it. Chipper was one of these cases, and was one of the very select few birds on the farm who could wield magic.

Yes. Magic.

It had surprised Maeven too when the first mojo-powered bird - a gentle and softspoken chocobo named Ruffles due to her very fluffy nature - hatched, and things had only gotten weirder from that point on. Sure, Ruffles was generally the safest one of the magically inclined 'uber chickens', to use Kennedy's wording for it, but even still there was nothing quite as mind boggling as seeing a rose pink chocobo running around healing anyone who got so much as a scuffed toe.

Chipper, on the other hand, was a very different basket of eggs. Sure he was sweet and kind and incredibly helpful when given the chance, but he wasn't a little healer like Ruffles was. No... no he got to be good at fire magic. Very good at fire magic. So good that he lit himself on fire shortly after hatching and just about burnt down the farmhouse. He felt horrible about it to this day, but there was always the fact that the house was nearly destroyed by oversized poultry. Maeven was still having trouble wrapping her head around that one.

Idly she turned from the shed and set off for the pasture, hoping beyond hope that the ladder would be in better shape than the roof apparently was. Thankfully when she got there, everything seemed to more or less be okay. A couple stray hay bales had been moved out into the grass and were sitting around what she could only assume was the ladder with a blanket thrown over it for shade, but that seemed to be the worst of it. As she drew closer, Maeven could hear Chipper's voice talking happily to someone, and as she focused on it, she couldn't help but smile. It sounded like he was reading a story to someone, quite possibly some of the new chocolings that'd hatched recently. Chipper was as fond of books as he was playing with his friends, so finding him reading a book to someone was far from surprising.

"And so the adamantoise and the cactuar were best friends from that day on, and the cactuar never forgot the lesson he learned about knowing when being careful was better than being fast. The end."

"That was gweat Unca Chippew!"

"Again! Read it again!"

The reader laughed quietly as he could be heard closing the book. "I gotta put this away before Maeven gets home. Don't want her thinking we got it all dirty out here; you know the rule about taking the new books outside."

"Aww..."

Maeven couldn't help but laugh at this, making her presence known as she leaned around the edge of the ladder-tent and peered inside. Sure enough, there sat a sunny yellow chocobo with a book sitting on his legs, and two fluffy little chocolings cuddled up beside him, likely so they could see the pictures in the book while he was reading it. "So, I see Gilda's not the only one who got herself into mischief." The woman remarked to the trio, an eyebrow raised and an amused smile on her face.

"Kweh!"

Chipper had a habit of squawking whenever he was surprised, and this was no different. Blue eyes wide with surprise, he started blithering rather rapidly. "we didn't get the book dirty, honest! Kept is super clean and everything!"

"Yeah!" One of the chocolings piped in. "Kept it clean an' not dirty!"

"So I see." Maeven responded, moving over and carefully taking the book so she could put it away. "You lot wouldn't happen to know why Gilda's on the roof, would you?"

The three birds all looked at each other, the chocolings bursting into giggles and Chipper getting an awkward-yet-amused look on his feathery face. "Well, she and Niknak got into a debate over who could throw rocks the furthest, and Niknak said he bet she couldn't throw a rock over the house. So they kinda took turns throwing rocks over the house, but it escalated into them just competing to see who could get the most rocks on the roof, then it turned into seeing who could get the biggest rock onto the roof, and... ehm... well, at least they didn't break any windows?"

Maeven's expression was blank for several moments before she eventually just sighed and shook her head. This wouldn't be the first time that Gilda and Niknak competed over who was better at something than the other. Sure, the pair were friends and it was normal for them to have a friendly rivalry with each other, but sometimes they got out of hand and things went missing or got misplaced.

Or put holes in the farmhouse roof.

"You... uh... you aren't mad at Gilda, are you?" Chipper asked after a moment, during which time the two chocolings had gotten up and scurried off to go play. "She didn't mean to break the roof."

"I'm... not mad, no. Just really questioning whether or not she's actually sane." Maeven replied, glancing around before just sitting down in the 'tent' with Chipper. "And whether or not my house is full of rocks or not."

"Probably is." The yellow bird replied with an awkward shrug. "They had a lot of rocks up there... did you want help cleaning it up?"

The woman thought on it a bit before shrugging and shaking her head, leaning back against a hay bale and closing her eyes before giving a response. "Nah. I got an idea."

"Oh? What's that?"

Maeven grinned. "I'm gonna bet that Gilda and Niknak can't beat each other in seeing who can take the most rocks out of the house. I figure it'd be a good way to get the job done without putting too much effort into it."

Chipper blinked. "What if they break something else?"

"Eh, too many questions for now. I can always fix it later." She opened an eye and smiled at him. "Besides, we've got a tent to be lazy in and I'm all for it. Got any other books out here?"

If a chocobo's face could light up, Chipper's most certainly did, and he happily pulled a book out of a nearby bag, a satchel that Maeven knew for a fact had held every book in her library at least once thanks to Chipper's love of reading. "This one? Please?"

Maeven couldn't help but laugh as she accepted the book. It was Chipper's favorite book, and there was no need to try and guess what he wanted her to do with it. "Alright, last time though okay?"

"You always say that." He said with a warble of amusement.

"And you never listen." She teased back as she opened the book, scanning the pages briefly before smiilng and starting to read. So what if there was a hole in the roof and rocks in the house? It was beautiful out still and the day was still young. It was just another wonderful, albeit wacky, day on the farm. And in spite of the crazy antics that were sure to continue...

Maeven knew that she wouldn't want it any other way.


	2. Chapter 2 Chicken Heart

It was another peaceful day on the farm. The sky was clear and blue, the chocobos were roaming the field and playing, and all seemed well with the world. On top of that, Maevan had caught up on all the work she had needed to do, and this in turn allowed her to while away the sun-filled hours, watching her birds play and run as they often did.

"Miss Maevan? Something's wrong with Chipper…"

The woman blinked and looked beside herself, a little surprised that one of her chocobos – a large, dusty brown one with light yellow-green eyes – had managed to more or less sneak up on her. "Oh?" She asked, an eyebrow rising as she took in what had been said. "What do you mean, Niknak? He didn't light himself on fire again did he?"

The large male shook his feathery head, his gaze wandering the field as though searching for the chocobo in question. "No, not on fire. But he's been doing strange things. He'll be completely fine one moment, and hiding from something the next. He hasn't explained why he does it either. There's not some strange bird disease that causes that, is there? Because I'm not exactly small enough to hide half the places Chipper had squashed himself into."

Maevan shook her head, frowning mildly in contemplation of what she'd been told. "That doesn't sound like an illness… but I'm not actually sure what he'd even be afraid of. Where'd you see him last?"

Niknak nodded towards the barn. "He was hiding in there last I saw him. Don't ask me how he did it, but somehow he got himself into the loft."

That one had Maevan baffled. Sure, Chipper could flap his wings and maybe get a little bit of lift, but getting to the loft? Something really must have had him ruffled to get him up there. She set off right away, frowning as she went. Whatever it was that managed to rafter her bird was in for a new problem; all she had to do was find out what it was and hunt it down. Niknak gave the impression of grimacing as he scurried after her. "Uh… I've seen that look before, Maev. You aren't gonna… go on the warpath or anything, are you? That's kind of why you hired-"

"Ken's not here to deal with monster harassment, and if it's bad enough that Chipper isn't gonna scare it off on his own then someone has to." The woman cut in, frowning further as she marched into the barn and looked around. Oddly, nothing seemed too out of place. Everyone was outside, there were no signs of dangerous creature previously being in the building… it was all normal. "Nak, if this is a joke…"

Something shifted up above, drawing Maevan's attention immediately. Sure enough, there Chipper sat in the loft, peering awkwardly down at her as he ruffled his feathers. "O-oh, uh… h-hi Maevan."

"Chipper, what are you doing up there?"

The yellow chocobo shifted uncomfortably as he seemed to deflate a bit, awkward sheepishness visible in his eyes. "H-hiding…"

"I see that." Maevan answered. "But why?"

The silence from Chipper only further drew Maevan to question the situation. Frowning again, the woman headed for the ladder up to the loft, climbing up and sitting beside her currently silent bird. "Chip…" She coaxed gently, ignoring Niknak as he ruffled his feathers and made an uncertain noise. "What's the matter?"

"I-I…" He burbled, though he shook his head afterward and tried to hide it under one of his wings. Tried being the key word here, as Maevan was quick to catch hold of his beak and stop him from doing so.

"Chip, you aren't actually afraid are you…" She mused, lightly stroking his head feathers and beak as she studied his face. "Not the sort of afraid Niknak thought." When the bird shook his head a bit, she smiled in relief and gently let go of his beak, continuing to stroke his feathers as she poked a little further into her investigation. "It's a girl, isn't it?"

An awkward chirp escaped him as Chipper's feathers ruffled up, his eyes showing even further embarrassment at the situation. "Y-yeah… I-it… I-it's Coral…"

Coral was a new chocobo to the farm, a bit on the shy side but quite friendly and overall just a treasure to be around, as far as Maevan saw it. It was little wonder to her why Chipper would fall for the lavender bird, but she had never expected him to react like this about it. "Aw Chip…" She said, giggling as she hugged him. "You don't have to be afraid to talk to her. If anything, she'd probably be very happy that you did."

"B-but she always got kinda weird about it before…" Chipper protested awkwardly. "Whenever I said hi to he before she'd get real quiet and refuse to look at me… n-now I like her but I don't wanna make her unhappy by being around…"

Maevan couldn't help but laugh as she took this in and thought it through. "Chipper, she's not trying to shun you. She likes you!"

The chocobo blinked in confusion as he looked at her. "She… does? B-but why does she avoid me if she likes me?"

"Well, why are you avoiding her?" The woman pointed out. "I'd bet a bucket of apples that she's afraid to confess she likes you because she doesn't want you to get upset at her. So, here's what we're gonna do about this." She smiled encouragingly at Chipper as he tilted his head at her in bewilderment. "You're gonna pluck yourself up a bit, get back that courage and cute that everyone knows you for, and you're gonna tell her how you feel. And!" She lightly put a finger on his beak as he tried to protest. "If my guess on her liking you is inaccurate, I give you full rights to sleep in the house for the rest of the month, and access to the apple orchard whenever you want."

Chipper stared at her in surprise, blinking a bit before ruffling his feathers and giving a tiny nod. "O-okay. I… I'll do it! I-I'll find Coral and I… I… I'll tell her how I feel! I-I'll tell her exactly how I feel!" He then nuzzled the woman, gave a happy little 'kweh!', and just like that jumped from the rafters, flapping the whole way down and scurrying off out of the barn to see if he could find the girl he'd been hiding from.

Niknak watched him leave in bewilderment before looking at Maevan as she made her own descent. "So… how'd you pull that one off, and how are you so sure he's actually gonna get the answer he wants? You gave a pretty big cushion to fall back on if this plan of yours backfires."

The woman merely grinned at him as she walked past, stroking his wing on the way by and stopping in the barn doorway to watch Chipper scurry off across the field toward a lavender chocobo. "I'm sure because I know something that you don't, Nak." She teased.

"Oh? And what's that?"

She grinned. "I had the exact same conversation with Lavender yesterday. She's been trying to find him since."


	3. Chapter 3: Real Treasure

"Whew is it?!"

It was this dismayed outcry that caught the attention of Ruffles one fine morning. The pink chocobo had been practicing her white magic in the quietness of an empty barn, and had been – in her own opinion – making a decent amount of progress, though the sudden distress of a nearby chocoling caused her spell – a ball of light meant for ease of visibility in darkness – to blow up in her face, showering Ruffles in a cascade of lingering sparkles that glimmered like tiny stars on her plumage. Blinking and inhaling sharply, the chocobo sat in stunned confusion for several seconds before registering what it was that had caused her lapse in concentration and quickly getting to her feet. There, by the door of the barn, stood a little cream colored chocoling named Merlie, her expression distressed and her eyes wide as she hunted for some unknown thing, presumably a toy. Naturally, this sort of unhappiness could not remain; Ruffles refused to abide the lingering of negativity, especially when it was plaguing children.

Walking over to investigate, Ruffles lightly nuzzled Merlie as she spoke up. "What's the matter little one? What has you so dismayed?"

The chocoling turned her sadness-filled eyes upward to stare at the adult bird almost hopelessly. "I-I wost my tweasuw map! It was hewe an' now it's gone!"

Ruffles inclined her head curiously at this news. "A treasure map?" She repeated. "Do you remember what it was for?" After all, knowing what the treasure was would be important.

"Tweasuw, siwwy!" Merlie answered without missing a beat. "Miss Maevan gave me it an' said the tweasuw was somewhewe on the farm! But I can't find the map!"

Well, that was definitely news to Ruffles. She would have thought Maevan would look for the treasure herself. No matter though; if the map belonged to Merlie, Ruffles would help her find it as well as the treasure. "Did you show anyone else the map?" The pink chocobo inquired.

Merlie shook her head, paused, and then nodded. "I wet Speedy see it." She answered. "He pwomised to hewp me find the tweasuw."

Ruffles contemplated this for a moment. She could remember who Speedy was quite well; he was always on the move, and always on the lookout for his next big adventure. The common joke among them was that if Speedy moved any faster and got any more forgetful he'd leave his own indigo feathers behind someday and be roaming around without them. It made her wonder if he had a moment of airheadedness and took the map on the mistaken pretense that Merlie had given it to him. Surely he wasn't that easily confused…

Before the pink chocobo could comment, however, the very youth she had been considering raced into the barn, a rolled up piece of paper in his beak and a relieved look on his face. Merlie started jumping up and down at once. "Speedy! You stowe my map!"

The dark blue bird shook his head frantically as he set the map down in front of her. "Nuh-uh! I was getting' it back from that sneaky carbuncle! Saw him take it while you were sleepin', I did, so I chased him down and took it back! I wouldn't steal it, ever!"

"That carbuncle has been making himself into a right nuisance lately." Ruffles mused, thinking on it a bit and recalling the sheer increase of mischief that had arisen since the little, almost fox-like creature had settled in the nearby forest. "Poor little Merlie was beside herself with distress when she couldn't find that map. Thank you for bringing it back, Speedy."

"T'were a pleasure!" He answered cheerily, his bright green eyes straying to the map as Merlie unrolled it. "Weren't gonna let no forest imp ruin Merlie's big day, nuh-uh!" He gave the impression of grinning when the chocoling looked up at him in excitement. "All set for the treasure hunt, Merlie? Figure we'll get a real good haul of loot?"

"Yeah!" The chocoling squeaked, bouncing on the spot a few times before running a couple circles around her map. "Wets go find a tweasuw box!" She then took off outside, completely forgetting her map as she scooted off into the sunshine.

Speedy laughed as he watched her go before looking at Ruffles. "You up for taggin' along, Ruffles? You did try helpin' her find the map."

The pink chocobo thought a bit on it before giggling and nodding. "Sure. I think I could benefit from a walk about."

Speedy let out a delighted 'kweh' at her answer. "Great to hear! The more the merrier, I say. Let's go!" That said, he picked up the map and headed out, Ruffles giggling as she hurried after him.

The map took them all over the property, its marked path even doubling back on itself once or twice as though to try and get them confused. After several twists, turns, and diversions, however, the unrelenting trio found themselves at the base of a tall and very old tree where someone had carved 'M + K' deep into the wood an unknown time ago. Merlie flopped down in the shade right away, panting a little as she giggled and said. "We made it! Now… now to find the tweasuw!"

Ruffles tittered to herself in amusement as she settled herself nearby. "You seem pretty tired dear." She observed. "You should probably rest a little while before we start digging around for treasure."

"Nuuuu…"

Speedy laughed as he flopped into a sitting position beside the pair. "She's right Merlie; you're plum tuckered out, you are. How are you gonna dig for treasure when you're pooped?"

"Mrmph…" Merlie protested, her baby down fluffing as she cuddled sleepily against Ruffles. "Don' wanna sleep…"

Ruffles accepted no further arguments on the matter, instead choosing to gently scoop Merlie under one of her pastel wings as she answered. "Nonsense dear. Speedy and I will ensure the treasure stays buried until you wake up." The lack of answer was more than enough to tell her that the chocoling was already fast asleep and likely hadn't even heard her. Giggling softly, Ruffles turned her gaze to the indigo chocobo beside her. "She looks up to you, you know."

Speedy blinked at this, inclining his head and regarding her questioningly. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

The pink chocobo giggled quietly again. "She tried to mimic every move you made while we were running around. Every bounce off every rock, every glance over your shoulder."

The blue bird blinked again, his surprise at this news almost painfully obvious. "She did eh? Not sure why she'd mimic me when you're the better role model. You weren't the one foolhardy enough to take off into the forest like I did. I'm too reckless you see; she'd be smarter mimicking you."

Ruffles shook her head in amusement. "Speedy, that's exactly why she was trying to copy you. I may have tried to comfort her, but you went headlong into potential danger to bring the map back. A hug doesn't bring back lost presents."

There was silence between them for several minutes before Speedy spoke again. "So… what do I do about it? I don't want her to get hurt someday by pretendin' she's me. I do stupid stuff all the time."

"I can't exactly say for sure what you should do." Ruffles replied. "Just try to be careful; if not for your sake, than for hers."

The indigo chocobo nodded a little, not entirely soothed by her words but knowing at the same time that it was good advice. "Guess I'll do that then."

She gave him a warm and gentle look. "Just remember this; no matter what we find in the box this map led us to, the biggest treasure she got from all of this is spending time with you."

It was a couple hours before Merlie woke up, and when she did the little chocoling was practically a fluff-covered rocket. She ran at least three laps around the old tree, and four more around Speedy and Ruffles. "Tweasuw! I wanna find the tweasuw now!"

Ruffles giggled as she watched Merlie race about, shaking her head and observing as the chocoling virtually danced on the spot while checking her map to be extra sure they were in the right spot. Soon she was circling the tree again, Speedy now joining in the search to find exactly where they had to start digging. A sudden and adorably squeaky 'kweh!' came from Merlie as she decided on a place. "Hewe! I think it's hewe!"

Speedy got to work at once, his powerful claws scooping up heaps of dirt with every swipe. Down and down he dug, until finally he felt his talons hit something solid. "I got somethin'!"

All attention immediately focused solely on Speedy and his little trench, Merlie and Ruffles both watching as what appeared to be a small chest was unburied. Getting it out of the hole was a trial in and of itself, with Speedy pushing his head under it and lifting while Ruffles tried to carefully pull it onto the undisturbed ground. It took a few tries, but soon they had it out and away from the hole, all three of them peering curiously at it in wonderment. "So…" Speedy asked with a small tilt of his head. "Who's gonna lift the lid?"

"Me!" Merlie squeaked as he eagerly flapped her little wings. "I wanna open it! Can I? Pwease?!"

Ruffles nodded cheerfully, both in answer and enjoyment of the chocoling's excitement. "I think that's a great idea. You go right ahead."

Merlie squeaked again at this, beaming up at the older chocobos before 'attacking' the box's lid, flapping as hard as she could and struggling to force the rusty hinges to work. "Nnnngh!"

A resounding 'pop!' soon followed, heralding the expedient lifting of the lid as well as clumsy flailing as Merlie nearly fell face first into the box. "Oh!"

Within the chest was a collection of random objects; stray ribbons of various styles and colors, baubles and figurines made of glass, handmade jewelry decorated with wooden beads and teeth from some sort of predatory animal, and so much more. The three chocobos all stared at the contents in wonderment. "No gold?" Speedy asked curiously, blinking in confusion.

"No shiny tweasuw?" Merlie murmured in disbelief.

Ruffles, however, knew what the value was immediately. "It's a memory box." She said softly. "These are all treasures, but the value is in the memories attached to them rather than the actual contents themselves." She carefully rooted around before finding and lifting an old letter out of it, blinking as she read the first few lines. A startled 'wark!' escaped her as she did so, hastily putting it back in the box and closing it. "This has to be given to Maeven." He sputtered quickly. "I-I think the box we found wasn't what she was intending on having us find!"

Merlie blinked at this. "It's not? But she gave me it…"

"Did she have any other papers around? Any other rolls anywhere?"

"Um… oh! Yeah she did! She said she was workin' on a game fow us an' gave me a map!"

Maevan and Speedy looked at each other for a moment, the indigo chocobo getting a sheepish look on his face. "Sounds like she gave you the wrong map, Merlie." He observed. "We should get this box to her and see if she has a real map for you to follow."

Ruffles watched curiously to see if the chocoling would be utterly crushed by this discovery… and found herself relieved when the little bird giggled and nodded. "Yeah! I wanna find anothew tweasuw! C'mon wets go!" And just like that, the chocoling was tearing off for the farmhouse.

Speedy and Ruffles glanced at each other, the pink one giggling a little as she remarked. "See what I meant about treasuring time with you more than the box she found?"

The indigo bird gave a small nod and laughed. "Yeah, a bit. So… guess we better catch the little runt, eh?"

Ruffles giggled and nodded. "Looks like it. Go on now; go make some memories."


End file.
